about:blank

Hello,

I've having a problem with my IE. I have Windows ME. My
IE comes up about:blank in the address bar. I have tried
to set a web addy so many times but still when I restart
my computer it comes up about:blank every time. I have
looked all over the net and others are claiming it is a
virus or hidden files of a virus and they recomend all
these virus scans and I have tired them all, and still,
about:blank comes up. I run my adaware all the time
trying and hoping it will find the problem, I have tried
CWShredder, Regilight, and others and nothing is helping.
If anyone can help in anyway, point me in the right
direction, thanks!
Candis

Candis,

You've been hijacked. There are two or more home page hijackers
(parasites) that use the about:blank mechanism.

One of these parasites is a variant of the CoolWebSearch parasite. For
details of the CWS.Aboutblank variant see
(http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/c...tml#aboutblank).
Unfortunately there is a more cent variation of this hijacker which cannot
be removed by CWShredder (see below) and if this is the case your only
resort will be to follow the advice in the last paragraph.

Download and run CWShredder
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/cwshredder.zip which is the best
way of getting rid of the many forms of the CoolWebSearch hijacker details
of which can be found at
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html and also
http://www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/c/cws.asp..

There is also another newer variant aboutblank parasite which is
particularly resistant to removal.

For details of this second variant and possible help see recent posts by
Mow Green in various threads at http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=30
such as that initiated by JENNY entitled "Blank page is BACK!
(http://forum.aumha.org/viewtopic.php?t=6437). You will need to download
for later use the tool about:Buster from either
http://www.atribune.org/downloads/AboutBuster.zip or
http://tools.zerosrealm.com/AboutBuster.zip

This would be a good time to download yourself a copy of the free Ad-Aware
SE Personal edition from Lavasoft
(http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/) and also SpyBot Search &
Destroy 1.3 (http://www.safer-networking.org/) and use them to check your
system for other commercial parasites remembering that they are only as
good as when you last updated their reference files. I also use a program
called BHODemon (http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm) that
checks for unwanted Browser Help Objects and SpywareBlaster
(http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html) which can help
prevent some parasites getting a grip on your PC.

Finally if you still continue to experience problems download a copy of
HijackThis from (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html).
Create a folder called HJT on C: (not on your desktop nor in your temp
folder) and copy the file you downloaded to that folder. Close as many
applications as you can including all instances of Internet Explorer.
Enable Explorer to see all files and folders (Tools | Folder Options |
View and check "Show hidden files and folders" and uncheck "Hide protected
operating system files") and then run hijackthis.exe and post back the log
to either the HijackThis Forum at http://forums.spywareinfo.com/ or
alternatively http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=30 and hopefully this
will enable someone to identify the cause of your problem.

See also: Dealing with Unwanted Malware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search
Engines http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm and also Browser
Hijacking http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/hijacked/
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Candis Candodious82@yahoo wrote:

I've having a problem with my IE. I have Windows ME. My
IE comes up about:blank in the address bar. I have tried
to set a web addy so many times but still when I restart
my computer it comes up about:blank every time. I have
looked all over the net and others are claiming it is a
virus or hidden files of a virus and they recomend all
these virus scans and I have tired them all, and still,
about:blank comes up. I run my adaware all the time
trying and hoping it will find the problem, I have tried
CWShredder, Regilight, and others and nothing is helping.
If anyone can help in anyway, point me in the right
direction, thanks!